Letter to the editor: Glad to be in The Dalles

Thank you to you and your wife for visiting our fair city. It appears that what you smelled during your visit triggered personal memories for you that overpowered your enjoyment of the “charm and beauty” of our “sunny town.” Many industries produce an odor — if they were to be systematically overregulated or made to go away it is certain that many creature comforts that are enjoyable where you live would be compromised or not exist at all. When was the last time you had a steak or hamburger or chicken tenders? (slaughterhouse) Bacon or ham? (hog ranch) Fried egg? (poultry farm). When was the last time you purchased any item that was not produced in Corbett? (any transportation — including rail travel, i.e. railroad ties). In your lifetime have you ever used something that was not wireless? When did you turn on a light switch or summer fan? (telephone and electrical poles are preserved with creosote.) If you purchased any item in Portland at a big store, how on earth did it ever get there? (again, transportation via rail). By the way, do you own any item that has a steel component? (steel mill)

Your letter to our editor is my only contact with Corbett, and every time I drive by on the freeway now, I will think of you; just as your one experience with a tie plant smell now defines what you have said you think about The Dalles. Thanks again for visiting, but my family has lived in The Dalles for 12 years and will always, always be glad we moved here.

Comments

That was beautifully said and fairly presented. It delighted my sense of smell like a breath of springtime. I'm glad this writer lives in The Dalles, gladder now that I live nearby, and maybe it's just as well that Mr. DeFauw lives in Corbett.

But I'm delighted to encounter his name. Would make a good new word in English; it's almost an exclamation, or an explanation. Lucky thing my Welsh ancestors changed the spelling of our family from Pteighlyrrh to Taylor. Write on, Ms. Seeley!